On Politics: How JD Vance turns taking questions into the show

He uses showdowns with reporters to cast himself as a pugnacious, unscripted defender of Trump.

View in browser|nytimes.com September 27, 2024 Senator JD Vance of Ohio during a news conference near San Diego this month. Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times How JD Vance turns taking questions into the show By Jess Bidgood The latest, with 39 days to go Mayor Eric Adams of New York, a Democrat, pleaded not guilty to bribery and fraud charges and, like former President Donald Trump, insisted he was the victim of a partisan prosecution. Trump met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at Trump Tower. Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to cut into Trump's edge on immigration. It was a little over 20 minutes into Senator JD Vance's appearance at a campaign rally on Monday in Charlotte, N.C., when the real show began. "We're a little behind on time, so I won't take as many questions as I normally do," the senator from Ohio said, before casually inviting local reporters to ask him whatever they'd like. "If you've got a microphone, just shout a question and I'll answer it." Usually, when candidates on the campaign trail take questions from the press, they do so before or after their events, far from the crowd. Vance holds gaggles like that, but he has also developed an unusual routine that has swiftly become a trademark of his campaign events: He has taken to parrying reporters' questions in front of his voters — turning journalists into set pieces in a performance where he casts himself as former President Donald Trump's pugnacious, unscripted defender while his raucous supporters tilt the playing field in his favor. That night, as Nick Ochsner, a reporter with the local broadcaster WBTV, began to speak — "I want to ask you about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson," he said, referring to the state's embattled Republican candidate for governor — the crowd began to boo, drowning out Ochsner, who implored Vance's supporters to let him finish. With a theatrical cough, Vance turned to the people behind him, well aware that they would share his exasperation. "I knew I'd get this," Vance said, throwing one hand up with the air of a parent allowing a troublesome child to have his say, instead of a candidate for vice president answering a reasonable question. Ochsner pressed on, pointing out that Robinson, a Trump-endorsed candidate who campaigned alongside both Trump and Vance in happier times, wasn't by Vance's side after CNN reported that Robinson made lewd and racist comments on a pornography website. "Is there something disqualifying about the comments uncovered by CNN that wasn't disqualifying about any of the previous comments he made?" Ochsner asked, as the crowd jeered some more. "Is that the question?" Vance shot back, before telling Ochsner the Robinson matter was up to the voters of North Carolina. A novel media strategy Ochsner was only the first of several reporters to be heckled that night. As Vance fielded more questions about Robinson, the upcoming vice-presidential debate and his false claims about migrants in Springfield, Ohio, the crowd rained boos on the reporters. Vance, whose writing has appeared in many publications, including The New York Times and The Atlantic, lectured the journalists about their job. "Journalism in this country is increasingly a disgrace," he said at one point. "It's about investigating the truth, and unfortunately far too few reporters do that today." Over the course of this election, the act of candidates' taking questions from reporters — or of not doing so — has become a miniature battleground. Vance has attacked Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, for doing what Republicans say are an inadequate number of interviews, and he has made his willingness to do interviews part of the show. The onstage news conferences are only one slice of his engagement with the media, which also includes cable news interviews, as well as print and radio interviews, which have at times been combative. "Taking press questions at our events gives local journalists around the country the opportunity to ask Senator Vance questions, and frankly, we find it bizarre that The New York Times is criticizing our campaign for offering those opportunities, just because they can't handle normal Americans using their First Amendment rights," said Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for Vance. Last week, Vance's supporters booed a Wall Street Journal reporter who asked him a question about the Federal Reserve's cutting interest rates by half a percentage point — a move that should help most voters' wallets, no matter how it plays out politically. They have jeered reporters for simply introducing themselves as working for outlets like The Arizona Republic or CNN. The campaign and its allies have looked for opportunities to turn the exchanges into viral moments, as when one of the Trump campaign's official accounts posted a video of the crowd booing after my colleague Chris Cameron asked Vance about a report that inflation had fallen. By taking questions publicly, Vance tries to present himself in contrast with Harris and Walz. But it is also a way of turning his campaign rallies into the format where he is strongest, while letting the crowd do some of the dirty work for him. Over nearly two and a half months on the campaign trail, Vance has not exactly become the king of the thrilling stump speech. His everyday interactions with voters can be awkward. But the Ohio senator has long been an able surrogate for Trump on cable news, and by sparring with reporters, he's able to turn his rallies into an interview set — one where he has control, with his staff handing the microphone to reporters. It puts the spotlight on the questioner, rather than on his answers, which my colleague Michael Bender has pointed out are often evasive. He gets to play off the hectoring crowd. He alternates between castigating the media and, sometimes, defending an individual journalist being yelled at by the crowd. "Kit is one of the good ones, but she won't be able to go back to CNN after I just said that," Vance said of the CNN producer Kit Maher at a raucous campaign rally in Phoenix, after the crowd jeered her. She then continued with her question, asking what Vance and Trump would do, if elected, to prevent school shootings. The boos in Traverse City Sometimes, the exchanges pit local communities against the reporters who cover them. That was the case for Peter Kobs, a staff writer at The Traverse City Record-Eagle, who asked Vance a question during his rally there on Wednesday. The boos began as soon as Kobs introduced himself. "Yay and boo," Kobs said, with a touch of sarcasm, before saying he was used to being booed. "We're having fun!" Vance said. "You're allowed to ask your question. They're allowed to tell you how they think about it." Kobs, 65, moved on to his question, which was about the high cost of housing in northern Michigan, and said he appreciated that Vance responded with a lengthy and nuanced answer. He did not really mind the booing, he said in an interview. He even found it a little amusing. "I've had five death threats as a reporter," Kobs said. "To be booed at a political rally is just sort of, what can I say, not unexpected at all." "It's a good thing," he added, "because it means they care about what the newspaper is reporting." Lance Wallnau during a campaign event in Chambersburg, Pa., in 2022. Doug Kapustin/The Washington Post, via Getty Images Prophecy and politics in Pennsylvania Tomorrow, Senator JD Vance of Ohio is set to join Lance Wallnau, a self-described prophet who says former President Donald Trump was chosen by God, for a taping of his radio show in Pennsylvania. It's attention-grabbing programming, but it's nothing new for the Trump campaign. I asked Elizabeth Dias, The Times's national religion correspondent, to tell us more. JB: Elizabeth, let's start with the basics. Tell us a little bit about Lance Wallnau. ED: Wallnau is an evangelical influencer from Dallas who has become a big name in the charismatic movement of Christianity. He's a corporate marketer who became a celebrity prophet, and he applies his marketing skills to push prosperity gospel teachings and products. He's especially well known for the belief that Christians should influence or even rule society, from politics to media to culture to the economy. Wallnau has been traveling through battleground states on what he's calling the Courage Tour. What is his message? He has long seen politics as a spiritual battle, and the tour aims to mobilize Christian voters in swing states for Trump. It is tent-revival style, mixing worship and patriotism to usher in a third Great Awakening and celebrate the triumph of Jesus. Speakers include pastors and politicians who are breaking down the wall of separation between church and state. What is Wallnau's history with Trump and Vance? Is it unusual that he is appearing directly alongside one of them? Nope! This is a decade-long trend at this point. Wallnau was one of Trump's earliest evangelical supporters in 2015, and Trump's rise has made him more famous. He praised Trump as a modern King Cyrus, who was the ancient emperor of Persia lauded in the Bible for freeing God's people from captivity in Babylon. You've written at length about the depth of evangelical support for Trump and how it has fused with political extremism. What does Wallnau's role today tell us about conservative Christian support for Trump and Vance in 2024? Their support is still strong, no doubt, and it could be determinative for Trump's chances in November. But this weekend also illustrates how what was once a fringe movement has pushed into the mainstream. Ten years ago, people like Wallnau were at the edge of Republican politics. Now they show up at the center. MORE POLITICS NEWS AND ANALYSIS Doug Mills/The New York Times Trump Suggests Putin Wants to End War, as Zelensky Looks On "I'm sure President Putin wants it to stop," Donald Trump said of the Russia-Ukraine war on Friday. 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